


The White Cub

by WriterOfStories



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adventure, F/M, I doubt I'll finish this story because idk, I haven't seen season 7 sooooo..., It's not a romance story, Lance/OC is not the main idea, OC is pretty powerful but it all makes sense, Shirt's still pretty gay and Adam's mentioned, Written before Season 5 so I had no idea about the white lion, also Shiro is the OC's older brother, i really like her, idk - Freeform, it's not like she's overpowered for no reason, set in the early seasons, you'll see - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2018-09-29
Packaged: 2019-07-20 11:08:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16135979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriterOfStories/pseuds/WriterOfStories
Summary: Promises are made to be kept, not broken. Well, unless your brother disappears because of a 'pilot mistake' –when he's the pilot and you know very well he's smarter than just nose dive into a planet– and the government is obviously lying. Oh, if a giant robotic blue cat fly's past you.Astra wanted to become a doctor, or a traveler, that way she'd be able to keep her promises she made to her family before they left her but things never seem to go the way her family wishes. Somehow, the seventeen year old finds herself in an oddly-similar-to-Earth planet with her brother, her best friend, three random teens, an alien princess and her uncle/caretaker/step dad (?), and five giant robot-cats.When she said she wanted to travel, this had been at the bottom of her list, not top. But, oh well, some promises have to be broken to get better ones, right?





	1. Probably Getting Grounded By Ghosts

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo! I wrote this before season three aired and just forgot I had it. I don't know if I'll ever finish it despite having the majority of the plot figured out, simply because I'm in my Senior year of high school and that's very stressful if you didn't know. If y'all like it, then maybe I'll finish it? I don't know, you tell me! 
> 
> Oh, and as I mentioned in the tags, this is not a romance-centered story. Yes, it affects the plot, but it's an adventure/action/figuring her past out kind of story. 
> 
> Also, I'm Trini! Lovely to meet you! 
> 
> p.s. English isn't my first language, please give tips if you find mistakes.

_“Why did you become a pilot?”_

_“I guess… the same reason why you run away to the desert every day.”_

 

The sun had risen only a few minutes ago, stroking the sky like a brush; painting it with oranges, pinks, and blues. A girl in her late teens hummed to herself as she loaded things into the grey-and-purple ship; despite being early in the morning, the desert’s heat was already beating heavily against her slightly tanned skin. She didn’t mind at all; the girl continued loading her things into the ship.

 

As she slid the last box into the back of the ship, she leaned against the pilot’s seat and sighed in relief. Her eyes scanned the boxes and bags she had managed to fit into the tight back of the ship. There were two boxes, not bulky like cardboard boxes but slim and plastic. One contained her clothes and the other one other necessities she could possibly need in the long trip. There was a duffel bag as well, dark grey and military looking, that she had filled with things she would need if she ever needed to make medicine (herbs, liquids, chemicals in safe containers). A black backpack, like those used for school, contained almost seventy different books; most stored in those see-through plastic tablets that had become so popular lately and others in those weird crystals her family used. The majority of the books had been written specifically for her, by her mother, father, and grandparents; there were also some medicine and anatomy books. Resting against the pilot seat was a satchel filled with miscellanous things she had collected through the years and didn’t dare leaving behind.

 

The ship wasn’t very big, obviously designed to fit one person… but if she squeezed enough, it could fit two. Or so she hoped. Otherwise, Astra would be making a huge mistake.

 

“I hardly doubt they’d be proud, Ozzy, they never even let me near a ship before…” Astra mentioned to the stuffed animal that sat in the pilot’s seat. It was an old black-and-white cat that her grandfather had sewed for her when she was born; for eighteen years Ozure “Ozzy” had never left Astra’s side. She had made sure that not a single stitch was ever out of place and washed it if it got dirty… but it still showed how the years had passed. “They’d be so angry…” But they weren’t there. They had been gone for five years.

 

Astra hopped off the ship, her feet lifting a puff of dust. Her black hair was pulled into a bun in the back of her head, though by now most strands had fallen out of it. Her skin was lined with a thin layer of sweat and dust from moving boxes and bags around. Astra ran her hand on top of the ship remeniscent. She had spent little under a year fixing the ship up; it would’ve taken less if she had known how to fix it, but then again her family didn’t even want her near a ship.

 

After showering one last time, Astra slipped on some clothes. A light grey dress that, while sleeveless, met behind the neck. Her black leather jacket had already been loaded into the ship. Her hair had been Dutch-braided and pulled into a bun in the back of her head. Over these clothes, Astra slipped on her grandfather’s old spacesuit. It was big on her even after she made some adjustments, but as long as it protected her from freezing to death in space, it was alright.

 

“We’re ready for lift off, aren’t we, Ozzy?” sitting on the pilot seat, the girl looked behind her to where Ozzy had been placed on top of the boxes. Astra slipped on the helmet and closed the door of the ship. “All systems are…” the girl flipped a few switches, pressed buttons, and entered the starting code into one of the panels, “on. Alright, say bye Ozzy, we’re not coming back for a few months…”

 

The ship rumbled awake and slowly, yet shakily, it started lifting from the ground leaving a puff of dust. Sudden thoughts started crossing Astra’s mind; the ship, after all, was almost twenty years old. The probabilities of it getting out of the atmosphere without blowing into pieces were probably slim. And she barely knew how to fix the ship. It would probably break down, fall apart, and send her spiraling down before exploding.

 

But it didn’t. The ship held perfectly fine as it flew farther and farther away from her beloved desert. All the hills she knew like the back of her hand; the dunes, the mountains, the rocky cliffs she probably shouldn’t have climbed. She’d come back… probably… but there were more important things at stake. If leaving Earth behind meant doing the right thing, then she’d gladly break the ‘I won’t go even near space or ships’ promise she made to her father before he had to leave.

 

“I’m sorry Dad, but this is important.” Soon she wasn’t seeing the desert’s rocky mountains but the night sky that lied beyond the atmosphere. She tried to pinpoint constellations that she knew, struggling to even find a star that was part of them.

 

Astra patted around until she touched the satchel bag. She rummaged through it for a bit, getting more desperate every passing second that she couldn’t find it. _No, no no no no, no, please tell me I didn’t leave it behind. Stupi– AHA!_ She quietly cheered as she grabbed the IPod from the satchel and threw the satchel back to where it was. Slipping the helmet off and placing an earbud on, Astra looked at the songs she had.

 

 _Smooth Criminal_ started playing. It was an old Michael Jackson song. Astra, much like one of her mother’s fathers, had an fascination for old things; collecting them, finding them, learning about them. He used to have rooms filled with them; vinyls, gramophones, miniature statues, flags from basically every revolution, guns that didn’t work anymore, pickaxes from way back when humans were still nomads… Astra and Grandad would spend hours talking in those rooms. Astra’s favorite things were books and music; Human music was the best, though Grandpapa’s songs would always hold a special place in her heart.

 

With the music playing and calming her nerves down, Astra clicked for her location. She was nearing an icy-looking planet (moon? asteroid?).

 

**CURRENT LOCATION**

**KERBEROS, satellite orbiting PLUTO. Edge of SOLAR SYSTEM.**

 

It had taken, approximately, three minutes for Astra to reach a place it usually took months for others and she wasn’t even been rushing. Her ship was simply cruising. And all it took her was three minutes. “What do we say, Ozzy? Thank you, alien tech, that’s right!”

 

It was odd, for her to see those symbols she hadn’t seen for almost six years, but it somehow felt better than reading English, her native language.

 

Straightening her back slightly, Astra set her jaw with determination. Whatever she could find in that satellite, even the smallest clue, wouldn’t only help her. It’d help the Holts, Adam, and Astra’s foster mother… and if things went on as hoped, even her brother.

 

_When I find you, I’ll slap you. Just warning you, Shiro._

 

}{}{}{}{}{}{

 

Astra was preparing to enter Kerberos’ orbit as safely as she could; being not only an inexperienced pilot but also not knowing any physics that may have been useful to know when descending into an ice satellite when the ship’s panel control started beeping rapidly. An image popped in the window’s corner; live feed from what was happening behind her. A battleship –no, a full cruiser– was rapidly approaching her. The beeping got faster and faster, as if the ship was yelling to the pilot ‘GET OUT OF THE WAY, YOU IDIOT!’

 

Astra pushed down the nose of the ship and accelerated; something flew above her and soon the cruiser followed. She looked about her and noticed the– “Is that Blue?!” She yelled at no one. She had spent the last five years of her life looking after the mechanical cat; sneaking out of the house every single day, dealing with Shiro’s bribing, to look after it. Now, the lion was out and about. How the _quiznak_?!”

 

She pondered on her next action for a fraction of a second; she could go to Kerberos and risk not finding anything or she could follow the Blue Lion and risk losing Shiro… But Blue had been left under her supervision, under her care, she’d make sure that it didn’t fall in the wrong hands, she had made a promise to Grandpapa that she’d look after it no matter what… Astra loved her foster brother (though, unlike her foster mother, Shiro felt like a real brother and not just a foster one) and she truly wanted to find him (and the crew) but the lion was her responsibility. It wasn’t a promise she could break like the one with her father, that’d only affect her, this was much greater to the point it could change the history of the universe. “I’m sorry, Shiro, I’m taking a detour. Ozzy? We’re going to have to postpone that return…” she mumbled as she steered and accelerated towards the blue lion.

 

Blue was much faster than her old ship or that cruiser; there was no chance either of them could catch up… Realization hit her like a load of bricks to the face. The cruiser –the _Galran_ cruiser– was following and shooting at Blue. Blue was in trouble.

 

“If they figure out the lasers, I’m toast,” Astra grumbled, “I look Galran, well, the ship –you understood me, didn’t you Ozzy?” Deciding that flying directly behind the lion would be a bad idea, Astra steered down until what would’ve been the lion’s blindspot if she didn’t have cameras everywhere. It still wasn’t fast enough; Astra was falling behind quickly, and her thrusters at full force would not last much longer. “Blue, I know you can’t hear me, but please don’t alert them!” after whispering said words, mainly to just tell herself ‘well, I tried’ if her plan failed, Astra shot the anchor. It was supposed to maintain a ship close to a low-gravity planet, so it struggled a bit to find an anchoring point. Once it did, and Blue didn’t shoot Astra’s ship down, Blue was doing all the work. The thrusters overheated due to being used full force for so long, but it didn’t seem like they were going to explode anytime soon.

 

Inside the ship, as it was being carried by the lion who seemed to not know how to fly, Astra was being thrashed around. Had it not been a single-passenger ship, she would probably be unconscious from all the whipping back and forth. The song on Astra’s earbuds, which were no longer on her ears due to the whipping, had changed to _Welcome to the Black Parade_ though it was falling deaf to her ears.

 

Astra wasn’t the Blue Paladin but she knew Blue heard her or felt her presence, a friendly presence, as she had shaken her leg to get rid of the anchor and immediately had stopped, allowing her to ‘enjoy’ the free ride. Up ahead, a wormhole appeared. The only way she knew that was because of her grandparents strangely accurate drawings… and the flashing **WORMHOLE NEARBY** in the screen. It was very bright, surprisingly, and to a certain point it was even mesmerizing.

 

Astra turned to look back at Kerberos, now nothing more than a spot in the great sea of stars. Sighing and turning back to look at the approaching wormhole (or were they approaching the wormhole? Nevertheless, it was growing nearer), Astra put her helmet back on just in case, and took a deep breath awaiting for the tight feeling his grandparents had always described as the worst part of traveling through wormhole.

 

“Ready, Ozzy? In three, two, one…” Astra took a deep breath and the lion soon disappeared behind the wormhole seconds before her own ship crossed it. Blue crossed smoothly, her rickety twenty-years-old ship, didn’t. An electric jolt soon fried the thrusters, turned off the controls, and sent Astra into unconsciousness. As her eyes closed, she noticed the anchor failing and the lion flying away from her.

 

By the time she came back to consciousness, the annoying rapid beeping had begun once again. It was good news, it mean the control system was back up and hadn’t been as damaged… the reason of the beeping wasn’t as good. The thrusters had been almost completely fried; the left one could work to about a fourth of the force and that was it. She wouldn’t get much farther than from where she was until she fixed that (if she could). Blinking slowly, Astra regained her ability to think properly instead of just _ow, ow, ow, ow_.

 

“Looks like we need to make a pit stop, hmm, Ozzy?” her voice was a bit hoarse and her chuckle breathless. Thankfully, by the time she had woken up she wasn’t that far from a planet that looked oddly similar to Earth. From where she was, Astra could see blue oceans (or what she hoped were oceans) and green land. “Please don’t explode…” titling the ship towards the planet, Astra turned on the remaining thruster as much as she could. Surely it was slow, but it was better than nothing.

 

The thruster worked perfectly fine until she was only a few meters above ground, then it died. She crash landed halfway up a mountain; farther up was the entrance to a bridge that lead to a castle, farther down was a town. The crash land had killed the remaining energy of the ship and the screens went dark; Astra had to kick the door open to be able to get off it. Looking at the ship, she couldn’t help but feel dread. She could fight, her father had taught her, and she was smart, her mother had made sure of that, but since neither wanted her up in space, she never learned about spaceships. Could she even fix the damages from an electrical jolt? A bent door was different from a bent motherboard in the control panel. Looking up at the castle, Astra spoke to Ozzy, “I’ll go see if I can get help… you man the ship.” Slipping her helmet off and the suit off, she threw both inside before grabbing her leather jacket, IPod, and satchel; she dumped everything of the satchel in the pilot’s seat and replaced it with a few of the books (just the most important ones), a dagger she had brought along just in case, and a few herbs. Once the jacket was on and her satchel hung diagonally from her shoulder to her hip, she closed the door (rather forcefully as it was quite heavy) and started walking up towards the castle with another old song playing in her ears.

 

It wasn’t a long walk, maybe ten minutes tops, to the start of the bridge. But in those ten minutes, her mind started to wonder. How far away was she from Earth? Had been following Blue a mistake? What if time went by differently and when she managed to get back to Kerberos, any clue has been wiped by time? Maybe she shouldn’t have followed Blu– No. As much as she wanted to make Shiro her first priority, the lion had always been the first priority. Blue had saved her Grandpapa’s, her Grandad’s, her mother’s, and her father’s life; the least Astra could do was make sure she was alright. She had also spent eighteen years visiting the lion without missing a single day; they shared a bond (not to the level of Paladin-Lion, but a bond nonetheless.)

 

“They’d be so mad right now,” Astra thought to herself as she arrived towards the entrance of the bridge. At the other side rested Blue, sitting majestically in the sun. A grin grew in Astra’s face, mainly out of relief that the lion was alright, and she started sprinting towards the blue robotic cat. Once she was close enough for Blue to notice her presence, the cat turned towards her and lowered her head for Astra. When the girl arrived to Blue’s side, she was panting heavily but still excited. “You’re okay! You –you ran away! How dare you!” Astra tried scolding the lion but received no answer; the girl chuckled, shook her head, gave her the best hug she could give a lion her size, and took a few steps back as Blue went back to sitting majestically under the sun. “Let’s meet your kidnapper.”

 

With firm and determined steps, Astra walked towards the entrance of the ship. As she got closer, tall door swung open for her, letting her see a well lit room with stairs leading to another level and hallways in four different directions. It was different than any human castle she had ever seen; it was metallic yet not cold. The pale lights should have given it an unwelcoming feeling but instead did the opposite. Aside from how it felt, the architecture in the ship was one to die for. Tall pillars, grand stairs, round rooms… Empty.

 

Everything and everywhere she looked was empty. Not on the furniture sense, but on the habitants sense. In a castle that big she had expected to meet with at least someone else by then. She climbed stairs after stairs, looking into any room that allowed her to. Empty, empty, empty. All she could hear was the music coming out of the one earbud she had one (the other one hanging as she wanted to hear if someone made a sound near her) and her steps. Empty, empty, empty… And then she came upon the first sound.

  
From behind a set of doors farther down the corridor she was walking through at the moment, something emitted a _beep_. It was small, almost passed as a note from the song she was listening to, but Astra noticed immediately that it was not part of the song as the song was currently in the process of changing to another song. Hurrying her steps, Astra jogged down towards the room. The doors opened in front of her with a hiss.


	2. Aliens Are Real... Real Annoying

In the middle of a room was a girl fiddling with a lit up panel, like the one in Astra’s ship, though the light in this one was blue instead of purple. The girl had a slightly darker skin than Astra, just slightly, and long curly white hair. She wore a diadem as well. Her eyes were a mixtures of blues and pinks, which matched with the light pink markings she had by the exterior corners of her eyes. Her eyes were squinting untrusting at Astra. Her lips formed a frown as she stood up straighter, almost defiantly.

“Who are you?” she had a strong accent, though alien it resembled a lot to what Astra knew as a British one. “How did you enter my castle?”

 

“Name’s Astra, and you are…?”

 

“I’m Princess Allura of Altea,” Astra’s heart skipped a beat at that. This so called princess had to be lying; there was no way she was from Altea, was there? “Now answer my question, how –and why– are you in my castle?” She –Allura– asked more forcefully this time, “You obviously didn’t arrive with the others, they would have told me.”

 

“Others?”

 

Astra could notice Allura getting frustrated the more Astra avoided her initial question, but Astra was stuck in that disturbingly Earth-like planet because of those ‘others’ Allura was talking about. “The Paladins of Voltron,” Astra raised an eyebrow at the answer. _She’s insane_.

 

“Listen, lady, you must have hit your head… the Paladins are gone.” Astra crossed her arms and Allura frowned up at her, taking a careful step closer to the black-haired girl. The frown in the Altean’s face softened slightly –though she was still glaring– before she spoke again.

 

“No, no. The _new_ Paladins.”

 

 _The what now?_ Astra wondered if that was the reason why Blue had suddenly moved. It had to be, it was the only reasonable answer; Blue wasn’t going to be moved until her Paladin found her, so if they did find her… That was a lot more reasonable than Blue getting a temper tantrum. _Is that why when Grandpapa died, she didn’t shut down? Because there was another Paladin chosen already?_

 

“Do you know where they are?” an idea popped into Astra’s brain after a few seconds of silence and glaring. If Blue’s Paladin had found her, then she was in safe hands. Her mission was complete. She could go back to looking for her brother, and maybe the new Paladins could help her. She’d be able to get Shiro, go home sooner, and continue to keep her father’s promise –forget and ignore that this happened– and live happily ever after… Astra could leave Blue with her Paladin, safe, just like Grandpapa had wanted her to do.

 

“I will _not_ give you that kind of information,” Allura scoffed offended, as if Astra’s had asked a stranger some personal question. “At least not until you tell me who you are and what you’re doing here.”

 

“I–I already told you!” Astra grunted exasperated, “My name is Astra, I need the Paladins to help me look for my brother. If they can’t help, then I’m simply looking for a ship to get out of this God forsaken planet and continue my search.” _Alright_ , _that was ruder than I was hoping for_.

 

“Find whom?” Allura asked seemingly intrigued. She was realizing that Astra didn’t pose any threat to her or the Paladins.

 

“My brother, he’s been missing for a year. I was looking for him but the wormhole friend my engines.”

 

“You crossed the wormhole?” she crossed her arms confusedly.

 

“Yes.” 

Neither girl said anything for a few seconds. Allura was looking down at the floor in front of Astra, thinking. _How much thinking does a Yes or No question need_ wondered Astra. It was simple: Allura could said ‘I’ll show you the Paladins’ or ‘I’ll help you get a ship’ or ‘Get off my castle and never return’. Three options.

 

“Are you from Earth?” she finally asked. It took Astra by surprise; did Alteans even know of the Earth’s existence? Or was it because that’s where the others (the new Paladins –or Palad _in_ ) came from? Astra toyed with the idea of the Paladins being human for a split of a second, but that was silly. Alteans were known for their science and alchemy, and Astra’s Grandpapa’s planet was known for their medicine. Earth was way behind them regarding development. Why would the Lions of Voltron choose humans? And why now?

 

“Yes.” Allura’s frown dissipated instantly though she still didn’t trust Astra completely. _Fair enough_ , Astra thought, _I don’t trust you either ‘Altean’_. “Listen, I just want to find my brother… Let me talk to the Paladins or help me fix my ship and I’ll be out of your hair in no time.”

 

“You’re… not in my hair?” _For one of the smartest races in the universe, you sure take things literally_ , thought Astra.

 

“It’s a –It’s a human expression,” Astra sighed out.. Allura stayed in silence for another second, trying to figure out Astra. Was Astra really that different personality-wise from the other humans that arrived earlier? Allura’s eyes scanned her up and down twice before sighing.

 

“There’s a pod you could use,” a smirk of relief appeared in Astra’s face, “you’d have to clean it and probably fix it –it is ten thousand years old.”

 

Astra sighed but still smirked with relief, “I figured.”

 

}{}{}{}{}{}{

 

“I believe there are some tools for you to use in the control room,” announced Allura as Astra inspected the pod. It was much different than the Galran ship she had been using. To start, the engine wasn’t in the back with the thrusters but under the front while the thrusters were at the sides. A much smarter idea to keep ships from overheating. Also, it was white with black glass-like windows. The Galra would be able to pick her out from the sky and shoot her down much more easily… though it did have a cloaking device. There wasn’t much that needed repairing, thankfully, but she would absolutely need to work on it… and also learn about Altean pods. Had it been a Galran pod would’ve been amazing, she would’ve already know the basics of the ship.

 

“That’d be great,” Astra smiled at the alien thankfully only to be met with indifference. Allura didn’t trust Astra, didn’t like Astra, or didn’t care about Astra at all. Maybe because of her sudden appearance at the castle, or maybe because Astra knew about the old Paladins. “Thank you.”

 

“No need to thank us, we’re just doing our duty.”

 

 _Us?_ Astra mouthed to herself, aware that Allura couldn’t see her. “Us?” she now voiced.

 

“I meant the Paladins, Coran, and I,” for the first time in the whole interaction, Allura truly seemed sorry for not being more specific.

 

“Who’s Coran?”

 

“I heard my name!” A tall man with bright ginger hair and an impressive moustache popped from around the corner enthusiastically. Like Allura, he also had the markings by his eyes, though his were blue. _Another Altean_ . How many Alteans had survived? From Grandad’s stories Astra had never expect for even _one_ to be alive. Perhaps some managed to escaped prior the fall of King Alfor. “Oh, who are you?” Coran frowned looking down at Astra. She wasn’t tall, she barely reached the bottom of Allura’s ears.

 

“Astra, nice to meet you.”

 

Coran hummed softly before grinning widely at her, “Nice to meet you as well. I’m Coran!” Astra didn’t mention how she already knew.

 

“We’re looking for some tools to repair a pod, have you seen any?” Allura interrupted the conversation. Her voice much softer when she talked to Coran than when she talked to Astra. Astra didn’t take it personally. For Allura, Astra was the Alien invading her home. It was perfectly understandable.

 

“Yes, yes, I was just using them in the control room,” just like Allura had mentioned. Coran had a similar accent, though much softer. It was such a light accent that Astra almost missed it altogether. He motioned for the two women to follow him and they complied. Coran kept rambling about the things he needed to fix in the castle; it was quite a funny scene to witness. He would forget about the women, start rambling, and them remember they were there, apologize profusely before the cycle restarted. “Here we are…” the door in front of the three slid open with a soft hiss.

 

The room was _big_. On the ceiling a crystal hung directly above a platform that had to pole-like pillars that rose from the ground to a waist height. There were also two sets of panels in front of the platform; in one of those panels was a man who was fiddling with a holographic map of the universe. He wore a red-and-white jacket, black pant, boots, and more importantly: a mullet Astra would recognize anywhere.

 

“What the _fümblüch_ are you doing here, Kogane?”

 

Keith whipped around as soon as he heard the voice. “Astra?”

 

Astra grinned and ran up to the guy, quickly pulling him into a hug he instantly returned. Once she let go, Astra crossed her arms, “I’m serious, what _are_ you doing here?”

 

“I’m –I’m one of the Paladins,” he explained briefly. He was still frowning, as if the concept of Astra being there and then was impossible to grasp. “How are you here? You weren’t with us on the lion and Earth ships don’t get this far…” Alright, there it made more sense. “Is this why you didn’t answer earlier? Because you were in space?”

 

Keith and Astra had met because she went looking for him. Shiro had always talked about this boy he met long before meeting Astra and how he was the closest thing to having a little brother (emphasis on _brother_ , Astra was still Shiro’s favorite (and only) sister) – a very irresponsible, reckless, compulsive, younger brother who had incredible abilities to see the connection of seemingly opposite things. ‘A conspiracy theorist’. Astra never bought the lie the Garrison gave about the Kerberos mission; she didn’t buy it and neither did the youngest Holt. Shiro was an excellent pilot, top of his class, and trained especially just so things like this happened; so when the Garrison said it was due to ‘pilot errors’ neither sister believed it. Even during the burial of empty caskets. Astra looked for the youngest Holt, though never found her. In hopes of getting at least one person’s help, Astra went looking for Keith. Unfortunately, he believed the lie. He had been struck with grief to the point of being expelled from the Garrison. And Astra couldn’t just say _Aliens are real, I have one of their ships_ so she decided to keep an eye on him. The year went by and Keith kept an eye out in the Kerberos situation while Astra helped him theorize about the whole energy-thing he was feeling. Though, Astra did mislead him a few times. Not once did she accompany him to see the markings because Blue trusted her enough to lower the barrier.

 

“Yeah, I sent you a message…” Astra frowned, “I’m going to look for Shiro. I got a ship and a good starting point–”

 

“Wait, Shiro?” he interrupted her.

 

“Yea–” the doors sliding opened interrupted her again. A familiar laugh came from the doorway. The laughter ceased almost immediately as she turned around to face the four people that walked into the room. Astra knew two of the faces there. With them also was a big guy who wore a orange bandana around his forehead and almost had _Sunshine_ written in his forehead. The other boy was taller than Astra (not a hard task), Latino-looking, and quite cute in Astra’s opinion. He was the one who spoke first.

 

With a charming smile and a very obviously flirty voice he presented himself, “Name’s Lance, and yours beautiful?”

 

“Astra,” she couldn’t help but giggle at the death stare Keith was giving him from beside her, “and I’d be careful with your words, that’s my brother and my best friend.” She pointed at the respective ones. Lance’s face instantly fell and stood up straighter, not flirty anymore.

 

Everything had fallen silent for a second or two before Shiro regained his ability to talk. His eyes were set on his sister’s frame and was frowning, just like Keith had done, “Astra?” then a grin stretched in his face. “Astra!” taking long strides, Shiro approached her and engulfed her in a hug. Astra hugged him as tightly, a giddy feeling of excitement and pride bubbled in her stomach. She found. Astra actually found Shiro! Shiro let go of the girl, letting her stand on her own instead of being lifted by him. “What are you doing here?

 

“Looking for you! You disappeared, Shiro, I didn’t want to– I couldn’t…” almost as swiftly as she had hugged him, Astra slapped her brother. The sound was loud and no one knew exactly how to react. Should they keep them apart or just let them work through their issues?

 

Almost as if he hadn’t been slapped at all, Shiro turned to look down at Astra with a frown; Astra stood her ground, glaring up at him. “You went looking for me? Do you know how stupid that is?”

 

“Oh yeah? You get back to Earth and then back to space, go through an alien wormhole to who-knows-where and you’re calling my ideas stupid?”

 

“We’re in middle of a war, you–”

 

“I don’t care! I had to _bury_ you! So what if I launch myself into a war! You–”

 

“Enough!” Keith’s voice cut off the argument instantly like a hot knife. Astra glared at Shiro and Shiro glared down at her; she barely reached his shoulders. “Astra’s here, Shiro’s here. That’s it. Move on.” 

Everyone but the siblings turned to look at Keith in surprise. Had they never seen _Keith_ , Mr. McShortTemper, blow up at someone? Keith, as nerd and dorky as he is, was a great leader. He could stop arguments easily (also get into lengthy ones just as easily); he knew how to do deals that save his and Astra’s butts more than once too. It seriously surprised Astra that the others seemed shocked by him yelling. _Are they even aware that he got expelled for blowing up to a teacher?_

 

“What happened to your arm?”Astra suddenly asked, breaking the silence that had settled.

 

Shiro rose an eyebrow, “Felt like upgrading,” he answered sarcastically.

 

“Shiro,” Keith warned him. The eldest sighed and let out a soft chuckle, glancing briefly down at the floor before looking up at his sister. That was it; Astra knew that face. It was the exact same face he gave her when she tried to convince him to make up with Adam before he left; he had made up his mind and there was no turning back. Astra would be returning home alone.

 

“You know I can’t go home, right?” Astra nodded. He had entered the room with whom Allura referred as the Paladins; Keith was a Paladin. The Paladins and Voltron were in the middle of a war… Astra was returning to Earth alone, to be alone. The only two people that mattered to her were staying thousands of millions of miles away from Earth; they were probably going to die before she could see them back in Earth.

 

“That much I figured, you _are_ pretty stubborn,” she shrugged, “I’ll head home anyways.”

 

“What?” Keith turned to Astra, “how are you going to do that?”

 

“I have a ship –well, I’m… repairing my ship… I crash landed here and–”

 

“I don’t think he meant it like that,” the shortest one of the bunch spoke up adjusting her glasses slightly. _Man, she looks a lot like Matt with her hair like this and those glasses_. “Unless you’re flying with a lion or the castle gives you a wormhole, there’s no way you’ll reach Earth without dying of age.”

 

“Fair point,” Astra mentioned, “and wormholes will fry my thrusters…” on the way back to the control room, Astra had decided that it was a safer bet to repair the ship she already knew how to repair than try and screw something up in the Altean pod. But now the Altean pod seemed to be the only option that wouldn’t turn her into a fireball while entering Earth’s atmosphere.

 

“Where did you even get a ship?” asked Keith confused. Astra had never mentioned the ship to anyone before.

 

“You didn’t steal it, did you?”


End file.
